Search Results

open access

College Readiness and Dual Credit Participation of Alternative High School Students

Description: The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which alternative schools add value to the college readiness of their students, as well as to measure the capacity of alternative school students to successfully complete dual credit courses while enrolled at the alternative school. This mixed methods study utilized an exploratory approach with a descriptive research design to explore the extent to which alternative schools produce college-ready students. The Texas Success Initiative Asse… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Bradley, Jeffrey James
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

It's Going to be Different, but It's Going to be Okay: Caregiver Perspectives on Autism, Culture and Accessing Care

Description: Through ethnography influenced by public health and anthropological theory, I explored the cultural perceptions of autism among eight caregivers whose children received services from a local Dallas-Fort Worth autism treatment organization. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews with caregivers and program employees provided a rich and nuanced view into the state of care currently available in the DFW area while also highlighting areas for improvement. This research will be used… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Otwori, Beverly N.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Ex-Offender Reentry: An Analysis of Current Policies and Programs

Description: Recidivism rates among ex-offender populations have consistently remained high. With over 600,000 ex-offenders being released from prison each year, reducing the rate of recidivism among the ex-offender class has become a highly debated issue. Ensuring ex-offenders successfully reintegrate into the community post-incarceration may help to reduce recidivism rates. Through a qualitative thematic analysis, this study examined various policies and program that may impact recidivism rates among ex-o… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Laird, Kaleigh B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

School System Improvement through Building Leadership, Adult Learning, and Capacity: A Consideration of Instructional Rounds as a Systemic Improvement Practice

Description: The problem of the study was determining the supportive conditions related to instructional rounds (rounds) to understand better what conditions may allow for sustained systemic improvement over time. Three Texas school districts were studied to understand the perceptions of district leaders, principals, teacher leaders, and teachers with regard to the sustainability of instructional rounds as a systemic improvement practice, the supportive conditions necessary for sustainability, the salient … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Warnock, Teresa Georgeanne
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

How Does It Feel to be Creative? A Phenomenological Investigation of the Creative Experience in Kinetic Places

Description: How does it feel to be creative? Such a question, when approached from a phenomenological perspective, reveals new understandings about the embodied experience of creativity, and how it feels as it is being lived. This investigation begins with a provocative contrast of two environments where creativity is thought to manifest itself: school art classrooms, where creativity is often legislated from an authority figure, and New Orleans Second Line parades, where creativity is organically and kin… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Bartholomee, Lucy
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Understanding the Perceptions and Indications of the Goals and Unique Aspects of the Foundations for Success (FFS) Curriculum Model: A Case Study in a North Texas Private Preschool

Description: This quantitative and qualitative case study examined the educators' perceptions of both the goals and unique aspects of the foundations for success (FFS) curriculum model. Specifically, this study was designed to explain the experiences of 55 early childhood educators and administrators who all had similar exposure to the FFS curriculum model. This study sought to understand the educators' perceptions of the specific goals of using pertinent curriculum and instruction terminology and the paral… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Jackey, Lisa
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Co-Occurrence of Rape Myth Acceptance and Intolerant Attitudes in a Military Sample

Description: Sexual trauma within the military is a widespread issue, and rape myth acceptance has been shown to contribute to its prevalence. Given that the military culture has been shown to lend itself to hypermasculinity and traditional gender role adherence, both of which facilitate aggression toward women, this effect warrants investigation within a military sample. The present study replicated and expanded upon Aosved and Long's (2006) study examining 85 veteran and active duty military members' resp… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Holtz, Pamela M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

African American Student Placement in Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs

Description: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship (predicative capability) between selected variables, specifically, African American student enrollment, teacher ethnicity, and urban or rural district classification and the number of African American student placements in a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP). The study used a non-experimental ex post facto design. Archival data from the Texas Education Agency were used to identify Texas schools that sent African Ameri… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Foss, Ivy
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Understanding Perceptions of Community Gardens in the Dallas Area

Description: This exploratory research focuses on identifying the roles and perspectives of community gardens in the Dallas area. Results from semi-structured interviews reveal the social and political makeup of the neighborhoods where the garden projects in this study are located. While these findings highlight the benefits of gardening in the city, they can also be contested spaces. In advocating for the proliferation of garden projects in the city, community organizations would benefit from understanding… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Ayyad, Raja
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Investigating Factors that Affect Faculty Attitudes towards Participation in Open Access Institutional Repositories

Description: Open access institutional repositories (OA IRs) are electronic systems that capture, preserve, and provide access to the scholarly digital work of an institution. As a new channel of scholarly communications IRs offer faculty a new way to disseminate their work to a wider audience, which in turn can increase the visibility to their work and impact factors, and at the same time increase institutions prestige and value. However, despite the increased popularity of IRs in numbers, research shows … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Tmava, Ahmet Meti
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Trends in Special Education Due Process Hearings in Texas from 2010-2015: School, Parent, and Social Justice Issues that Inform a Principal's Decision-Making

Description: This study explores all due process hearings that occurred in Texas public school districts from 2010-2015. Special attention was paid to the reasons for the hearings within the legal reports addressed and their outcomes. The study was conducted using a quantitative approach involving a legal document content analysis of due process hearings to select the participants to be interviewed with a qualitative semi-structured interview protocol. Following this process, nine participants from one dist… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Poton, Marcy Rose
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Maximal Proposition, Environmental Melodrama, and the Rhetoric of Local Movements: A Study of The Anti-Fracking Movement in Denton, Texas

Description: The environmental problems associated with the boom in hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," such as anthropogenic earthquakes and groundwater contamination, have motivated some citizens living in affected areas such as Denton, Texas to form movements with the goal of imposing greater regulation on the industry. As responses to an environmental threat that is localized and yet mobile, these anti-fracking movements must construct rhetorical appeals with complicated relationships to place. In this … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Hensley, Colton Dwayne
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Stories about Culture, Education, and Literacy of Immigrant Graduate Students and Their Familes

Description: Every year many immigrant families become members of United States communities. Among these are international graduate students whose lives and identities, as well as those of their families, are changed as they negotiate between cultures and experiences. In this study, three Saudi graduate students share their stories about culture, education and literacy. This research employs narrative inquiry to answer the following question: What stories do Saudi immigrant students tell regarding their ed… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Mirza, Hala
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Understanding Affluence through the Lens of Technology: An Ethnographic Study toward Building an Anthropology Practice in Advertising

Description: This thesis describes a pilot study for a new cultural anthropology initiative at Team One, a US-based premium and luxury brand advertising agency. In this study, I explore the role and meaning of technology among a population of affluent individuals in Southern California through diaries and ethnographic interviews conducted in their homes. Using schema theory and design anthropology to inform my theoretical approach, I discuss socioeconomic and cultural factors that shape these participants' … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Garcia, Steven R.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Examining the Influence of Visual Culture on a Saudi Arabian Child's Drawings

Description: This study examines the ways visual culture influences a child's drawings. The child is my 9-year-old daughter Nada, who was born in Saudi Arabia and is a fourth-grade student temporarily living in the United States. The study uses qualitative methods of data collection and exploratory case study research design as a methodology. The data were analyzed in light of Althusser's theory of ideology, specifically the notion of interpellation, along with visual culture theories. In addition, gend… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Alshaie, Fouzi Salem
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

These Walls Can Talk: An Ethnographic Study of the Interior Schoolscape of Three High Schools

Description: The schoolhouse is a place in which messages for student consumption are typically found with classroom lectures, text, and activities. As with any social setting, however, the communication is not confined to one space but extends, in this case, to hallways, common spaces, and exterior of the building. One of the most common practices for the delivery of messages to students within the schoolhouse is through visual signage. Visual signage can traverse disciplines encompassing concepts from … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Hamilton, Joshua
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Untangled: The Effects Family Structure Has on Juvenile Delinquency

Description: Juvenile delinquency is an issue in today's society for various reasons. This issue can result due to different motives, but family dynamics is one of the most vital factors. The current study extends prior research done in regards to the family factors that affect juvenile delinquency and what policies and programs are available to eliminate these factors. The seven family dynamics that are studied are socioeconomic status, divorce, cohabiting, family transitions, parental incarceration, paren… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Murray, Taylor Danielle
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

U.S. International ESL Students' Experiences with and Perceptions of Utilizing Mobile Technologies for English Learning

Description: The purpose of this research was to examine ESL (English as a second language) students' current use of their mobile phones for English skill building activities outside of class in a U.S. school setting. In addition, this research reported on students' perceptions of the potential benefits of using smartphones in class for English learning. Also learners' current English related activities using mobile devices and time duration of using different phone features were studied. The literature rev… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Zhu, Shanyuan
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Catalysts of Women's Success in Academic STEM: A Feminist Poststructural Analysis

Description: This study analyzes senior women faculty's discourses about personal and professional experiences they believe contributed to their advancement in academic careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The purpose of the study is to understand factors that activate women's success in STEM disciplines where women's representation has not yet attained critical mass. A poststructuralist emphasis on complexity and changing nature of power relations offers a framework that ill… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Mullet, Dianna Rose
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Artscapes: Community Perceptions of City Beautification through Murals in Denton, Texas

Description: Keep Denton Beautiful (KDB) is inspired by Keep America Beautiful's model of community engagement to create a clean, beautiful, and vibrant city. The community mural initiative, Artscapes, aims to enliven public spaces, abate graffiti, and inspire community members to keep Denton, Texas, clean and beautiful. The goals of this research project are to understand the impact of Artscapes initiative, community perceptions of public art, and find ways KDB can better align future mural projects with t… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Robertson, Lindsey
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Exploring the Process of Developing a Glocally Focused Art Curriculum for Two Communities

Description: The world is becoming progressively interconnected through technology, politics, culture, economics, and education. As educators we strive to provide instruction that prepares students to become active members of both their local and global communities. This dissertation presents one possible avenue for engaging students with art and multifaceted ideas about culture, community, and politics as it explores the possibilities for creating a community-based, art education curriculum that seeks a … more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Hartman, Jennifer D
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

When Race Matters: The Influence of Race on Case Clearances in Capital vs. Non-Capital Homicides in Texas

Description: Texas leads the nation in the number of executions carried out since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Race was a key factor in the 1972 moratorium, and though the Supreme Court allowed for its return under new statutes, race continues to plague the capital punishment legal system. In this study, I examine the influence of race on case clearances in capital and non-capital homicides in Texas, using the extra-legal and non-discretionary theories from existing clearance literature. I fin… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Samaniego, Rebekah
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Mediational Pathways between High School Extracurricular Participation and Young Adult Educational Attainment: A Structural Equation Analysis

Description: Little is known about the mechanisms by which extracurricular participation in high school influences educational attainment in young adulthood. Also limited is an understanding of the different types of extracurricular participation and how various activities may manifest within the relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine the link between high school extracurricular participation and educational attainment, with social capital, parental expectations, and academic achievement pre… more
Date: December 2017
Creator: Long, Roxanne
Partner: UNT Libraries
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